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British American Tobacco expects compliance with the new European Commission’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) to cost it between €100 million and €200 million during the next two years as it alters machinery to meet new packaging rules, according to a Reuters story.

The TPD—directive 2014/40/EU of April 3, 2014—which governs the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member states concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 29. It repeals Directive 2001/37/EC.

The new directive is due to enter into force on May 20, and member states are required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the directive by May 20, 2016.

However, member states may allow tobacco products, which are not in compliance with the new directive but which are manufactured in accordance with the previous directive and distributed before May 20, 2016, to be placed on the market until May 20, 2017.

Municipal Police in Prague have apparently fined a man dressed as a slice of pizza for smoking a cigarette in a public transportation station, according to a Prague Post story.

Smoking is forbidden at metro and tram stops, as well as on all public transportation. Photographer and local resident Stefan Berec posted a picture of the incident on Facebook and it has been making the rounds.

Details were said to be sketchy, but it seems that the person, know only as “the slice,” was employed to hand out menus for a local restaurant.

He was apparently spotted by the police while taking a break in an out-of-the-way area of the station.

According to the Post, the photographer said that the police had “held the slice for a while, as the pizza was being uncooperative.”

China’s customs and tobacco authorities destroyed 375,890 cartons of smuggled cigarettes said to be “worth” CNY22 million (US$3.6 million) in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong, on Tuesday, according to a China Radio International report.

The cigarettes were said to have included more than 30 brands, including Marlboro, 555 and Double Happiness.

They were shredded and then burned at a local power plant.

Unnamed officials were quoted as saying the destruction of the cigarettes illustrated China’s firm stance in abiding by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

It also showed the country’s achievements in cracking down on the illegal trade in tobacco, they said.

Meanwhile, the vice minister of the General Administration of Customs, Lv Bin, said China had stepped up its fight against tobacco smuggling. Nationwide last year, 34 cases of smuggling involving 1.84 billion cigarettes “worth” CNY2.33 billion had been cracked.

He warned that cigarette smuggling would continue because it offered high levels of profit, but said that Chinese authorities would continue their crackdown on the trade.

The EU’s new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which was published on April 29, has come in for some criticism, and could come in for more.

Ewald Stadler, an Austrian member of the European Parliament, has asked the European Commission for information about what were the costs incurred by the TPD trilogue negotiations.

In a preamble to four questions, Stadler said that the TPD had been debated and amended in seven committees in the European Parliament during 2013. The parliament had adopted its position in October last year and had then embarked on the trilogue negotiations—informal meetings convened between a select number of representatives from the European Council, the parliament and the commission.

Stadler went on to ask:

1. “What was the total amount of human and material resources required during the trilogue negotiations?

2. “What were the costs for translation?

3. “What were the costs for meeting rooms?

4. “What were the costs for the staff present and services provided by technicians and third parties, such as drinks during the negotiations?”

Flue-cured seems to be selling fast at auctions in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

According to a story in the most recent issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter, at the same stage of the 2013 and 2014 selling seasons, 22.58 million kg and 43.56 million kg had been sold respectively, so volume sales were up by more than 92 percent.

Almost 65 percent of the flue-cured sold so far this season has comprised bright grades, and the average price for all grades stands at INR121.0 per kg.

Auctions for the authorized Andhra crop of 172 million kg began on Feb. 17.